Source: In the Trenches
On January 9, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it “will not apply the 2017 or 2018 downward payment adjustments, as applicable, to any individual eligible professional or group practice that fails to satisfactorily report for calendar year (CY) 2016 solely as a result of the impact of ICD-10 code updates on quality data reported for the fourth quarter of CY 2016.”
This decision was made following an internal review because CMS determined that updates made to ICD-10 in October 2016 negatively impacted the agency’s ability to process data.
This action is consistent with recommendations the American Academy of Family Physicians provided to CMS in July 2015 regarding the implementation of ICD-10. At that time, the AAFP called for “additional appeals and agency monitoring for reporting systems that determine appropriate payment for medical services based on quality measures and meaningful use of electronic health records.”
CMS is encouraging physicians to refer to the ICD-10 Code Updates message on the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) Spotlight webpage or the PQRS ICD-10 Section page for additional information.
AAFP News has an excellent summary about how this may impact your practice. The AAFP also has extensive resources on PQRS available for its members.